Thursday, March 22, 2018
“This has been an issue as of recently, particularly at Springfield at the Southern State Correctional Facility,” Deputy Corrections Commissioner Mike Touchette testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday morning. “We’ve had about a dozen drones fly over that facility in the last year.”
Tags: drone , prison , corrections , contraband , crime , Mike Touchette , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
The bill, which passed 85-54, would shift $59 million in education funding from the property tax to the income tax. It would also cause tax rates to increase faster in school districts that spend more than about $12,000 per student, with the goal of discouraging high spending in future years.
Calling on her colleagues to be bolder, Rep. Heidi Scheuermann (R-Stowe) proposed an amendment that would have dramatically expanded the proposal, shifting about $120 million from the property tax to the income tax, among other changes.
“This is our chance to do something meaningful,” Scheuermann said. While many lawmakers complain that the current system is convoluted and contributes to high education spending, attempts to overhaul it have invariably failed.
Scheuermann's proposal, which was defeated on a 51-90 vote, closely resembled an early version of the bill that the Ways and Means Committee had previously ditched because it would have increased tax bills for low- and middle-income residents in high-spending districts.
Tags: Vermont Legislature , Phil Scott , education finance , Heidi Scheuermann , Image , Web Only
Hyde-Smith is Mississippi's GOP agriculture and commerce commissioner. She's set to replace Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), who announced his retirement earlier this month due to continuing health issues.
Rutgers University's Center for American Women and Politics keeps track of female representation and reports that Vermont and Mississippi were, until now, the only states to never send a woman to Congress.
"It's sad that we're last. We should be embarrassed to be last," said Ruth Hardy, executive director of Emerge Vermont, a nonprofit that trains and promotes Democratic women considering running for office. "I appreciate the work of our congressional delegation, but it's past time for us to send a woman to Washington."
"This is exactly why we started Emerge Vermont," said Rep. Jill Krowinski (D-Burlington), "to build a strong bench of women in politics."
Tags: Senator , Phil Bryant , Thad Cochran , Cindy Hyde-Smith , Ruth Hardy , Jill Krowinski , Cary Brown , Bernie Sanders , Peter Welch , Patrick Leahy , Jeanne Shaheen , Maggie Hassan , Carol Shea-Porter , Annie Kuster , Image , Web Only
It passed the committee in a 6-5 vote, with all four Republicans on the panel and Rep. Chip Conquest (D-Newbury) opposing the legislation.
After the vote, Conquest explained that he supports parts of the bill, such as raising the gun buying age to 21 and a ban on bump stocks like those used in the Las Vegas shooting last year.
Tags: guns , Tom Burditt , Janssen Willhoit , Eileen Dickinson , Chip Conquest , bump stocks , universal background checks , gun control , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan is challenging the veracity of an explosive claim that an attorney for investors defrauded in the EB-5 scandal made on Monday.
After a court hearing on the investors' lawsuit against state officials, Stowe attorney Russell Barr told reporters he has evidence that one of the 10 defendants had been arrested on an EB-5 trip to China in "2013 or 2014" for "having sex with a minor" and was bailed out by another state official.
Barr declined to provide additional information, but said he would include it in future court filings.
In a statement Tuesday, Donovan said that Barr filed a public records request in November seeking state documents pertaining to "an arrest, detainment or holding of any state employee while traveling overseas in promotion of the Vermont Regional Center and its related projects."
Tags: T.J. Donovan , Vermont Attorney General's Office , EB-5 , Jay Peak , Russell Barr , Image , Web Only
Despite the testimony and his own support for some kind of safe storage policy in Vermont, Rep. Martin LaLonde (D-South Burlington) withdrew a proposal he'd made last week that would require guns to be locked up when the owner isn't in direct control of the weapon.
“It’s a little too broad,” LaLonde told the House committee Monday, noting that he wants to keep guns away from children and teens who shouldn’t have them but couldn’t find a policy that wouldn’t unduly limit home defense.
Tags: safe storage , guns , second amendment , Sarah Copeland Hanzas , Amy Sheldon , Jessica Brumsted , Lori Houghton , Maxine Grad , age limit , universal background checks , Image , Web Only
Saturday, March 17, 2018
The new proposals, from Rep. Martin LaLonde (D-South Burlington) would put a 10-round limit on magazines and require guns to be locked up when they’re stored outside of the owner’s control.
“To have more than 10 rounds, it makes a firearm a more lethal weapon — more of a killing machine,” LaLonde said. “It’s one of the areas that advocates for having safer gun laws are really pushing, and they’ve studied this and they believe that this is one of the best things we can do for these shooter situations.”
The safe storage provision, he said, is designed to protect children and teens from hurting themselves or others by getting their hands on a gun without supervision.
Tags: Bill Moore , Martin LaLonde , magazine capacity , safe storage , firearms , home defense , Image , Web Only
Friday, March 16, 2018
There was agreement between Gov. Phil Scott, Attorney General T.J. Donovan and top legislative leaders to devote half of the windfall to addressing the opiate crisis. And there was general agreement that the money should be spent on short-term expenditures that would have real impact but wouldn't create ongoing budgetary obligations.
The House Appropriations Committee had the initial say on how to spend the other $14 million. As it wrapped up its work on the state budget Friday, it also made those decisions.
"We devoted $10 million to the teacher pension fund," said Appropriations chair Kitty Toll (D-Danville). "We put $2 million into our rainy day reserves, $1.5 million to higher education ... and $500,000 to a revolving loan fund for energy improvements in state-owned properties."
State Treasurer Beth Pearce had lobbied for the pension contribution, and was very pleased with the outcome. "This is a very good investment for the taxpayer," she said. "That $10 million will result in $29 million in savings on interest."
Members of the House Appropriations and Human Services committees worked out an agreement on the opiate money; that working group's decisions were then rolled into the budget by Appropriations. The group apportioned $2 million, and left the other $12 million to be decided over a longer period of time. Lawmakers plan to spread that money over the next four fiscal years to maximize long-term impact and to avoid the potential whiplash effect of a one-time appropriation that might not be sustainable.
Tags: Kitty Toll , Beth Pearce , Phil Scott , T.J. Donovan , tobacco settlement , Image , Web Only
Monday, March 12, 2018
Sen. Carolyn Branagan (R-Franklin) and Rep. David Sharpe (D-Bristol) announced at their respective town meetings last week that they will not seek reelection to the Vermont legislature this fall.
Branagan's announcement was first reported Monday by the County Courier. Her current term is her first in the Senate; she had previously served 14 years in the House.
"I love my job," Branagan said Tuesday afternoon. "I love the work we do. But I've been there 16 years, and it's time. This is supposed to be a citizen legislature; I think 16 years is enough. There was nothing bad that happened. I've just felt for several weeks that this should be my last term."
There's plenty of interest in the seat in the district, she said. "There's a lot of frustration over the liberal bent in Montpelier," she said. "It doesn't match what's happening in Franklin County."
The county's two-seat Senate district has seen plenty of turnover in recent years. Former senator Norm McAllister lost to Branagan in the 2016 Republican primary after facing accusations of sexual assault. Former senator Dustin Degree resigned last November to take a job in Gov. Phil Scott's administration. Scott appointed longtime Republican politico Randy Brock to serve out the remainder of Degree's two-year term alongside Branagan.
Now that Branagan is stepping aside, Rep. Corey Parent (R-St. Albans) is expected to vie for one of the two Franklin County seats. If elected, he would take office at age 28, and would be the youngest member of the Senate. He declined to comment on his plans Monday.
Tags: Carolyn Branagan , David Sharpe , Corey Parent , legislature , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, March 7, 2018
“It’s a done deal, as far as I can see,” said Lee Morgan, who said the legislature plans to force such measures through without listening to citizen feedback.
Morgan said the bills would get approval from Gov. Phil Scott, who he called “Governor Benedict Arnold” in a reference to the infamous Revolutionary War traitor. Many pro-gun speakers went out of their way to slam Scott for his recent reversal on guns, which the governor has said came about as he read an affidavit related to a recently foiled school shooting plot in Fair Haven.
Tags: guns , Milton , Don Turner , Mitzi Johnson , Chris Mattos , Ben Joseph , Image , Web Only